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PWINSIDER Q&A: READY TO RUMBLE, HOGAN AND VINCE, WWE DOING INVASION ANGLES, FANS AT LIVE EVENTS & MORE

One angle that always sold big in wrestling was the idea of another company invading into the promotion. Everyone loved the NWO invasion. The WCW invasion of WWE was a cash cow full of great storylines (too bad Vince ruined it). Most recently the CZW/ROH invasion was the best storyline either company ever had in recent memory. Now instead of mixing wrestlers up with a draft, wouldn't it be more interesting if wrestlers from Raw invaded Smackdown, or vice versa? I would be so happy if I was surprised to see a run-in from wrestlers that I wouldn't expect to see on the brand. So why not do more invading angles, especially since its been a while since we've seen one in WWE?

For some reason, WWE has never really been able to grasp the idea of an "Invasion" angle or having rival companies within their own universe. It falls outside the sphere of their traditional presentation of "sports-entertainment" and you see the results of what happens when they attempt it with the history of the Invasion. Most recently, when you look at the way they flopped the re-birth of rebel company ECW or even the idea of Matt Hardy as an outsider returning to feud with Edge, you can see they simply have no interest in it, despite the fact that other companies, including the ones you mentioned, have made good money running similar storylines.

I attended my first indy wrestling event this past weekend. I've not actually been to any live wrestling event in about 10 years, but attended several WWE events in the 90's. The wrestling (AAW in Berwyn, IL)was solid, with a couple matches that really stood out. My question: At what point did the crowds' yelling and chanting really become prevalent at live events, can I expect the same level of distraction at a WWE event now, and from where did this annoying development originate? It was, quite honestly, as if the wrestling itself was secondary to the main purpose of attending, that being the constant crowd participation. I know it probably exists everywhere, but you simply don't notice it as much, when watching WWE on TV. Finally, do you see this phenomenon getting worse, or at some point, tapering off? What do you think will cause the shift away from this, should you think it will occur?

I think part of that can be traced back to the original cult popularity of the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, which had a Rocky Horror Picture show atmosphere to the live events. When Monday Night Raw and WCW began the Monday Night War in the mid 1990s, the fans becoming louder and wilder became more commonplace as well. All that said though, I've been attending live shows since 1986 and I can't remember a time when the fans weren't chanting or screaming or cheering or booing. That's just part of the release many fans get out of attending live shows.

When the WWF bought WCW in 2001, did they get the rights to the Ready To Rumble movie? I find it hard to believe WCW let Warner Brothers have 100% ownership.

Warner Brothers produced and owned the movie, so that Academy Award winning opus is all theirs.

At this moment in time, what is the state of the relationship between Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan?

The relationship between the two remains strained, which is why WWE pulled Jerry Lawler off the Memphis Wrestling event that was scheduled to feature Hogan vs. Lawler in the main event.

I was wondering, the day after Eddie Guerrero passed away, he had been scheduled to face Batista and Orton in a triple threat match for the title, at this point Batista was injured, do we know whether it would have been Eddie that was going to win the title that evening or not?

I believe the taping was actually scheduled for the evening Guerrero sadly passed away. The plan at that point was for Guerrero to turn heel on Batista and win the WWE World championship.

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